Do not envy the rich

Charlise Theron the Oscar winning South African actress from Benoni received a shock when she was charged for wearing the wrong wrist watch at a social event in Los Angeles! She did not wear the watch given to her from the company that is sponsoring her. It was a mistake! But she has to pay $150 million to them as a punishment! When they interviewed her she was flabberghasted and said she could not believe they would do such a thing! It would probably swallow up all her life's earnings up to date!
The Psalmist continually warns us not to envy the rich or famous. The Psalmist also warns us not to take note when wicked people prosper and wonder why God allows it. He says that he almost backslid pondering these things and envying other people's wealth. The way of escape for him was to go into the sanctuary and pray about it until he had a revelation that gave him a new perspective on life in general. A word of the Lord came to him that reminded him to, 'look at their end'.
There are many books telling you how to get rich and how to imitate self-made millionaires, but these books do not tell you how these men ended up. As a young man looking at the path of life ahead of me, I investigated many aspects of life and studied the lives of great men to learn from them. Many books told you what to do and how to go about it, but in the end I decided to take the Bible, that old black Book that has withstood the test of time, to be my Road Map in Life.
When I realised that money is not the key to happiness and wealth is not the measure of a man's success, I turned to the riches Christ had to offer and decided to sell all that I have several times, give to the poor and to follow Him in the Way!
Nola and I have lived our lives as missionaries by this adage found in Scripture: there is he who scatters abroad and yet increases; then there is he who keeps back more than is necessary and it tends to poverty.
We have not stopped travelling abroad to other lands to spread the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, namely that God was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to Himself and if anyone would believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ died for their sins and that God raised Him from the dead, would be saved if they confess Him as Lord!
The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow to it! When God begins to bless you there is no turning back! If generation after generation would continue to server the Lord faithfully he will increase their blessing and eventually begin to multiply it like he did for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Another verse of Scripture that guided our lives is the one where Jesus said, 'if anyone gives up houses or land, father or mother, or possessions for My sake and the Gospel's, he would receive 100 fold in this life and eternal life in the life to come, plus persecutions.'
Persecutions come when God blesses you because people are envious and jealous and begin to hate those who have found the favour of God in their lives by faitfully serving God and humanity.
I believe we need to make a decision individually, but also as a family, like Joshua and say, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord our God!'
The Lord's financial operating system works in any economy of the world: Malachi prophesied and said, if you would faithfully bring in the tithes and the offerings and sacrifices to the Lord's house (the accurate church), He would pour out a blessing that there would be no room to receive it! He will even give back to you what you have lost over the years! Then the Lord invites us all to test him in this matter!
If people would realise that the best investment and the best financial business to be in is to serve the Lord with your finances, the world would turn out to be a wonderful place, because the love of money is the root of all evil.

How planets are formed

A lady stood in front of me in the church building in Brooklyn, Pretoria where Nola and I pastored the last church before we moved to Cape Town to pursue our apostolic ministry, and said, 'I have a word from the Lord for you!' She owned her own insurance company and was not one of those dilly women who constantly tried to be spiritual, so I was prepared to listen to her.
'Don't look to the stars; look to the planets!'
With that she walked away and I was left standing in limbo. What on earth could that mean? I knew we had many 'stars' in our large congregation; sport stars, business stars, music stars, acting stars and some who just thought they were stars! But I was stumped when it came to planets!
I read up on some astronomy books and discussed it with Nola and the kids, but then I left it behind me. The word just didn't make complete sense to me. But it haunted me. It stayed with me.
A long time after that, when we already lived in Milnerton, Cape Town, I revisited Pretoria and knocked on the door of a prophet who has since moved to America (it ssems that all prophets end up there in the end!)
As I walked into his office he said,'have you been studying the universe lately?' How on earth could he have known. I thought to myself.
So on my return to Cape Town we made a concerted effort to go to Sutherland, where all the nations of the world have their Observatories. It is the place in the Southern Hemisphere where the skies are the clearest. There are no industries nearby for an area of 70 kilometres.
We attended some lectures - which, I must be honest, were far too scientific for my brain that looks for scripts to act out as an actor! But at the end of a lecture the scientist opened the floor for any questions.
'I have a question,' I ventured out,'what's the difference between a star and a planet?' At first I thought everyone would laugh at my foolish question, but instead, the man commended me,'that is a good question!' I felt relieved. It felt like we were all back at school in a classroom situation. The man continued his explanation:
'A star burnes on its own gas. When the gas is burnt up it uses its last gas to become a shooting star. A planet is a group of stars that have given up their own identity and uses their energy to melt together to form a new planet. The planet has no light of its own. It relies on the sun to make it shine! Just like the moon.'
It solved my riddle...
Unity is only obtained by those who are willing to lay their lives down for a cause. C. T. Studd, the old English cricketer who gave away his entire Eaton inheritance in order to be totally reliant on the provision of God as a missionary to China and Africa, said, 'if Jesus Christ was the Son of God and gave His life for me, then the least I can do is give my life to him!'
Half hearted efforts in life, luke-warmness, hesitancy not only causes delay, but eventual defeat! Whole hearted effort brings results in every area of life. If someone is not really with you, it will show up in due time, but so much time was wasted in the interim!
When everyone has their own agenda it is difficult to create unity. Unity comes only from people willing to give up their own ambition in order to serve something far greater than themselves...the Christian martyrs serve as a prime example of people who were willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ.
But even in sport, Mike Hussey, Mr. Cricket, as he has become known, the Australian batsman that is second only to the great Sir Donald Bradman in test averages, tells in his biography how he made up his minde to give cricket his best shot, even though he was just an average player, with a slight build and often self-doubting person. When he had made up his mind, he gave it all he's got and he has earned the respect of those who doubted him as well as his team mates. But in on the last page of his book he says he wants to be remembered as a team man and a good bloke who also played some good cricket! He is sold out to what he chose as a profession!
If you and I can take a page out of his book, we may be able to turn the tide in our affairs of life as well!
Instead of trying to be a star, lets form planets that outlast the stars!
This has become the definition for our church and our church network; we are not looking for stars, but for faithful people who are willing to give up their own ambitions to make the dream of Jesus Christ come true: a church where He is truly the Head of the body of believers! Paul reminds Timothy to only appoint faithful men who are able to teach others also - avoid the big talkefs and the ones who only rely on their giftedness!
A plante finds its orbit around the sun...but that is another chapter altogether!
Remember, stars might shine bright for a while, but eventually become shooting stars!

The Lazarus story

My Yorkshire friend John Waller ran a bible college in Ghana for ten years and had some amazing experiences during that time. One of them was the story about a church plant in a little village where there was no electricty. He took a small generator along and showed the Jesus Film in an open space in the market.
Before he went he prayed and told the Lord, 'we need a Lazarus or something similar to start the interest in the church in that village!'
At the conclusion of the movie he gave an altar call and many people gave their lives to the Lord. One of them was the town drunk. Everybody knew him. When he came forward the people were astonished.
His name was Lazarus!
John took one of his young associates with him on the missiona and asked him to remain behind to establish the church. When he asked the crowd who had space for the young man in their home, Lazarus was the first to offer his place. It turned out to be a shack and the boy had to sleep on the ground, just like Lazarus.
But the young man was willing to rough it in order to establish the work.
Many times God chooses the most unlikely person to get a job done. He uses the foolish things, the despised and rejected ones so that no man can boast about anything in His presence!
John and his wife Trish spent ten years of their lives in Ghana and could write a book about all they had experienced. When I encouraged him about writing the book, he remarked, 'what about all the unsung heroes in Ghana that have far greater stories to tell?'
John came close to death on two or three occasions due to Malaria attacks and a brain tumour. He has recovered but his body has suffered severely. But he is full of praise to the Lord for the opportunity for adventure that they had in Ghana.
Today he is pastoring an Elim church in Barking, London. With his typical Yorkshire humour he said, 'I've been to Toronto blessing and now I'm barking!' We shared a good laugh together.
He used to be a rugged truck driver before he got saved and became a preacher. Its a hard life, but he loved it. Trish has stood by his side all these years and her dedication and discipline has been the back bone of their ministry over the years.
The genuineness of their faith and friendship has been a pillar of strength to Nola and me over the years and we honour them as a man and woman of God who remained faithful in spite of untold hardships and even when facing dangers for the Gospel's sake.
The Pentecostal Church in Ghana invited him back for the inauguration of their new president recently and he enjoyed going over the old familiar hunting ground that he knew so well.
There are many more stories I can tell about John and Trish, but today I just wanted to tell the Lazarus story! I can say, 'It is written!' now!